Brewed: Double Bogey’s Big Brother

By scot in Home Brewing on Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

I have felt that the bigger beers (greater than 9.0%) I have been brewing are not coming out how I have envisioned. I am looking for a big beer, with alcohol, but smooth. Should include a heavy body, sweet without being cloying, and dark malt characteristics.

Process and/or recipe changes.

Mine have been dry (using American Ale yeast, changed in this batch). Mine have had too much alcohol that doesn’t smooth out (changing fermentation temperature – not allowing over 68*F). Mine haven’t had a ton of dark malt character (upping amount of specialty grains, basing on recipe in Brewing Classic Styles).

A lot of changes for a single recipe but I feel they were all well educated changes. I also felt the beer needed big changes. I wasn’t close to what I wanted; drastic measures.

General Information
Brew Date: Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1084
Yeast Starter: 7.5L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.50
Original Gravity: Did not take, sucks
IBU: 91.3
Color: 62.3 SRM
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%
Alcohol by Volume: 10.7%
Primary Fermentation: 28 days @68*F
Secondary Fermentation: 60 days @68*F
Barrel Aging: 7 days @55*F

Grain Bill:
11.00# 2-Row
11.00# Maris Otter
2.00# Chocolate
2.00# Roasted Barley
1.00# Special B
0.75# Honey
0.50# Caramel 40L
0.25# Flaked Oats

Mash:
Saccharification Rest @ 155*F for 90 minutes.

Hop Bill:
2.50 oz Warrior (15.0%) @ 90 min
1.00 oz Fuggle (4.5%) FWH
1.00 oz Willamette (5.5%) @ 5 min

Extras:
1.0 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 min.
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min.

Happy with the beer. Definitely dark and full of dark malt. When I rack to the barrel I will give it a try. Enjoy!

Updates:
2013-01-27 Racked to secondary, gravity at 1.026 (possibly too low for what I wanted)

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